Although the butterflies are the stars of the show in the Texas Discovery Gardens, they’re not the only interesting and beautiful things you’ll see there. There’s also a breathtaking array of different plant species, some of which you’re not likely to see in everyday life. There’s a wide enough range of species that you can […]
Turning from the shape of a butterfly’s path through the air to the shape of the butterfly itself, what do you notice about the shapes of the creatures you see all around you in the air? First, it might strike you that there are so many different shapes! It seems as though every kind of […]
As you walk through the butterfly room of the Texas Discovery Gardens, take time to slow down and notice what’s going on in the space around you. What do you notice about the flight of the butterflies? I spent some time watching the different flight paths used by different butterflies. What shapes of paths in […]
In the foyer of the Texas Discovery Garden you will likely notice this wall of cubbies. What does it remind you of? A honeycomb, of course! But did it ever occur to you to wonder why bees build honeycombs in the shape they do? It turns out there is a simple mathematical reason that they […]
Perhaps the most eye-catching feature of Dallas Fair Park is the gold-leaf wrapped Tower Building. Yes, that is real gold! Because of the allure and attraction of gold, our first math walk stop in Fair Park will be to ask, “How much is all of that gold on the Tower Building worth?” Before we go […]
Perhaps your stroll around Dallas Fair Park brings you to the Esplanade, a stately reflecting pool between Centennial Hall and the Automotive Building. The designers of the Esplanade for the 1936 World’s Fair had a difficulty, however: one end of the Esplanade is five to ten feet higher than the other, and of course water […]
Another three quickies, this time about the iconic sculpture “Wave” by Santiago Calatrava. (1) Is this sculpture curved or straight? (2) Is it symmetric? (3) How did Calatrava get each one of the copper beams to stay at the particular angle it sits at? Again, it’s best to give participants time to chew on these […]
Here are three quick questions concerning the Hillcrest Amphitheater in the Lyle School of Engineering on the campus of Southern Methodist University. First, if you laid a plank of wood on top of the seats, and another plank on top of the steps, and a third on top of the hand rails, which would have […]
Directly in front of Dallas Hall is the Class of 1916 Sundial. But over the years it has developed a problem: there’s nothing on it to cast a shadow! The piece that’s missing is called the style — a thin rod whose shadow lines up with one of the hour markings on the face of […]
The front of the Blanton Student Services Building poses a geometric puzzle. Or rather, the columns do: are the sides of the columns vertically straight, or do the columns become narrower as they go up? Of course, they appear narrower toward the top, but everything looks smaller the farther away it is. So how can […]